Brooks Koepka edged Rory McIlroy in a tight race for 2019 PGA Tour Player of the Year honors as voted on by members of the Golf Writers Association of America.

McIlroy beat Koepka for the same honor by an undisclosed vote total from his PGA Tour peers back in September, but in this vote the nod went to the current world No. 1 as Koepka received 44 percent of the votes against McIlroy's 36 percent, with Masters champ Tiger Woods finishing third.

While the Tour's vote encompassed the 2018-19 season, during which both Koepka and McIlroy won three times, the GWAA vote was for the calendar year of 2019 when McIlroy won four times to Koepka's two victories. But one of Koepka's wins came at the PGA Championship, and he compiled a historic run in the majors by finishing T-4 or better in all four events. He becomes the first player to win the GWAA Player of the Year award in consecutive seasons since Woods won three in a row from 2005-07.

After winning four times including two majors, Jin Young Ko was a runaway winner for LPGA tour Player of the Year honors over Nelly Korda, while Charles Schwab Cup champ Scott McCarron edged Steve Stricker for the award on the PGA Tour Champions. All three winners will receive their awards at the GWAA's annual dinner in Augusta, Ga., on the eve of the opening round of the Masters.

Barcelona and Aston Villa are close to reaching a €1.5 million agreement for Louie Barry to return to England just six months after he joined the Spanish champions from West Bromwich Albion, sources have told ESPN.

There is interest from several Premier League clubs, including Liverpool and Manchester United, but Villa has been the first-choice destination since the decision was made to leave Barca at the end of last year.

Villa's academy is now run by Mark Harrison, who helped nurture Barry at West Brom, and the Barry family are lifelong Villa supporters.

If the deal is completed, Barry, 16, will be around the first team from the off at Villa Park, but will begin with the U23s. One source at Villa has described the move as "the biggest deal" the club will make this window, and a Premier League debut before the end of the season is a possibility.

Barca beat off competition from Europe's biggest clubs to capture Barry last summer. The England youth international turned down far greater money on offer at Paris Saint-Germain in order to push through a move to Camp Nou.

However, Barry's time in Spain has featured more downs than ups. He excelled in preseason for the club's U19 team as part of an attack that also featured Ansu Fati and Ilaix Moriba, but was unable to make his competitive debut until October due to a delay in processing his registration with FIFA.

Barry scored on his full debut and added another goal off the bench in a league game in December, but has found minutes hard to come by. He has not yet completed 90 minutes.

Coach Franc Artiga, who replaced Victor Valdes on the bench before Barry was eligible to make his debut, has preferred to use the older players in the squad. Barry, who is not 17 until the end of June, is the youngest player in the U19s by some way.

Sources close to the player have bemoaned broken promises on Barca's behalf, saying the club have backtracked on a pledge to give Barry regular game time in a central attacking position.

Those same sources told ESPN they never asked for Barry to play for the U19s and would have been happy for him to play for the U17s, where he would still have been one of the youngest players. Barry even asked Artiga if that would be possible in order to build up game time.

Sources at Barcelona said they feel Barry, who became the first Englishman to ever live at La Masia, should have shown more patience. They suggested it was always going to take time for him to adapt to his new surroundings, learn the language and get familiar with the side's way of playing.

In the background, Barca have also been in a dispute with Barry's former club West Brom. They have still not paid the development rights the English side believe they are due. Barca have said FIFA should decide if the Catalan Club have to pay the rights.

Their argument is based on a claim that the contract West Brom offered does not carry weight internationally.

All of those factors contributed to Barry's camp pushing for a January move away from Barcelona, with the club reluctantly opening the door to a departure on the premise that they could recoup what they had invested in him.

Chelsea made an overall loss of £96.6 million last year, despite owner Roman Abramovich injecting £247m into the club.

The club's accounts for the 2018-19 season reveal they paid out £26.6m after sacking manager Antonio Conte and his coaching team in July 2018.

Former Italy international Conte, who now coaches Serie A side Inter Milan, guided Chelsea to the Premier League title in 2017, but was dismissed with 12 months remaining on his contract.

Chelsea missed out on Champions League qualification in Conte's final season at the club, but won the FA Cup that term.

Since Abramovich took charge in 2004, Chelsea has spent £90m in compensation to sacked managers.

Conte was replaced by compatriot Maurizio Sarri, who was at the club for just one season. He too departed for Serie A, joining champions Juventus just one year into his three-year Chelsea contract.

Chelsea invested £280.6m in their playing squad last season, including the signings of United States men's international Christian Pulisic, goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, and midfielders Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho.

The club's wage bill also increased by £41m in 2019.

Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric has been approached by MLS clubs D.C. United, Inter Miami and Atlanta United in recent weeks, sources have told ESPN, but there is no prospect of a move in the short or medium term.

The 34-year-old has a contract at the Bernabeu until 2021 after his deal was extended by a year following his Ballon d'Or win in 2018.

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Sources close to the player have told ESPN that initial, exploratory talks were held with D.C. United, and there has also been interest expressed by Atlanta United and Inter Miami.

Discussions did not progress past those early stages, however, in part because there is an awareness that his salary is beyond the means of a Major League Soccer club.

Modric is no longer an automatic starter in Zinedine Zidane's team, with increased competition in midfield this season since the emergence of Federico Valverde.

The Croatia international remains, however, a key player and scored a late goal in Madrid's 3-0 win at Getafe on Saturday.

Modric has a profile and status that would make him attractive to MLS clubs and the league itself, as a flagship signing.

Sources have told ESPN he would consider a move to the United States in the longer term.

India chose to bowl v Sri Lanka

India won the toss in Indore and chose to bowl first yet again, having done the same in the abandoned first T20I on Sunday.

Both teams named unchanged XIs. Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar kept legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal out of India's XI, with Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur forming the frontline seam-bowling options.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, kept Angelo Mathews out of the side, preferring spin-bowling allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva in the XI instead.

Rain was not forecast to interrupt the game.

India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Navdeep Saini 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Sri Lanka: 1 Avishka Fernando, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Perera (wk), 4 Oshada Fernando, 5 Bhanuka Rajapaksa 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Lasith Malinga (capt.), 11 Lahiru Kumara

Mumbai opener Prithvi Shaw will miss India A's upcoming warm-up matches against New Zealand due to a shoulder injury he picked up in the Ranji Trophy against Karnataka last week. Shaw, who is currently undergoing rehab, will play no part in the two 50-over matches, scheduled for January 17 and 19 in Lincoln. His availability for the three one-dayers and two four-day matches is also in doubt.

Shaw hurt his left shoulder on the first day of the Ranji game while covering for an overthrow. MRI scans revealed he had hurt his rotator cuff on his left shoulder. However, in a surprising move, the BCCI asked the Mumbai team management to pull Shaw out of the match and sent him to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to manage the rehab.

"Prithvi is currently under rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and has been ruled out of India A's two upcoming practice games in New Zealand," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said. "A call on his participation in the one-day and four-day matches will be taken at a later stage."

This is the second time a freak injury has disrupted Shaw's career. At the outset of India's Test tour of Australia in 2018, Shaw tripped on his ankle in the field and was forced to watch the series, which India won, from home. Shaw had gone to Australia brimming with confidence after a century on Test debut, against West Indies.

This time, too, Shaw was in good nick before the injury. He returned from his doping ban on a confident note, cracking a maiden double-century against Baroda in first round of the Ranji Trophy in December. That came on the back of three half-centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

A federal judge on Monday declined to dismiss criminal charges against attorney Michael Avenatti, who is accused of attempting to extort as much as $25 million from Nike to keep him from exposing alleged misdeeds in the apparel company's grassroots basketball division.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Paul G. Gardephe wrote that the federal indictment adequately alleges that "Avenatti used threats of economic and reputational harm to demand millions of dollars from Nike."

Avenatti's trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 21 in New York.

"The Indictment adequately alleges that Avenatti engaged in 'wrongful' conduct, because it pleads facts demonstrating that Avenatti used threats of economic and reputational harm to demand millions of dollars from Nike, for himself, to which he had no plausible claim of right," Gardephe wrote. "While Avenatti's client may have been in a position to make demands on Nike, Avenatti had no right -- independent of his client -- to demand millions of dollars from Nike (1) based on confidential information supplied by his client; (2) without his client's knowledge; and (3) to his client's detriment. Whether or not Avenatti engaged in such conduct is, of course, a question for the jury."

Avenatti pleaded not guilty to felony charges related to conspiracy to commit extortion, wire fraud and extortion. He contends he was seeking the money from Nike to compensate his client, former grassroots basketball coach Gary Franklin, and for Avenatti to conduct an internal probe of Nike's conduct with amateur athletes.

"Once the actual evidence is presented in the Nike trial, I will be fully exonerated because I did absolutely nothing wrong," Avenatti wrote on social media on Monday.

Avenatti alleges that Nike employees funneled tens of thousands of dollars to elite basketball players and their families and handlers to ensure they played for Nike-sponsored grassroots teams and college basketball programs.

Avenatti, who is most famously known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Donald Trump, is attempting to introduce evidence that he contends uncovers misconduct by several employees working in Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL).

In a separate court filing on Monday, Avenatti's attorneys revealed that Franklin, a former coach of the Nike-sponsored California Supreme team, secretly recorded Nike employees when he became uncomfortable with their requests.

According to the filing, Franklin recorded telephone conversations with EYBL executives Jamal James, Nico Harrison and Carlton DeBose, as well as attorney Bryan Freedman and Mel McDonald, a California-based basketball trainer connected to NBA players Deandre Ayton and Bol Bol.

According to the filing on Monday, Avenatti's attorneys are aware of 16 specific calls that Franklin recorded, and they were seeking additional calls between Franklin and Nike employees, including those concerning "the payments to amateur basketball players and/or their families or agents between January 1, 2016 and March 25, 2019."

On Monday, Gardephe denied a subpoena request by Avenatti's attorneys for Franklin's audio recordings and related transcripts, as well as un-redacted versions of all text messages and emails between Franklin and Jeffrey Auerbach, a California-based sports management consultant.

"In sum, the Court does not expect the validity or nature of Franklin's claim against Nike to be a central issue at trial," Gardephe wrote in his decision. "Instead, the critical issue at trial will be whether the Government has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Avenatti demanded $15 to $25 million for himself in exchange for not conducting a press conference at which Nike's alleged misconduct would be revealed, and whether he did so without his client's knowledge and consent."

Avenatti's lawyers argued that the recordings, emails and text messages revealed misconduct by Nike employees. In one email to Franklin, which was included in a court filing, Auerbach wrote:

"Gary-listende (sic) to the tape. This guy is something else. OUT OF TOUCH. He's got nerve. He and Carlton come into your house, your program, which you've been running long before they ever got to Nike, and give you a directive you can't refuse (so why even ask?) and inject criminal elements and behavior in the form of Mel McDonald, order payoffs, and insist you turn over your 17 EYBL team to an overzealous and crazed parent illegally paying a handler (and God knows who else) for the use of a star high school player (Bol Bol) all to make his son look better on the court. Jamal and Carlton put you through the [expletive] ringer, decimated your program, hurt your brand, cost you money and mental anguish, and NOW he's talking to you like you did something wrong (not them) and he's willing to leave 'all that stuff' behind. End of the day, we're all part of the Nike family. A family that insists and directs you to work with a man arrested and charged with extortion 3 years before they introduced you to him for DeAndre (sic). Nike brought criminal behavior and corruption into your house, your club...How about you recalibrate my ass."

According to court records, federal prosecutors advised Avenatti's attorneys this past weekend that they were producing an additional 4,000 pages of Nike-related documents. According to Avenatti's attorneys, Nike has turned over more than 20,000 pages of documents to the federal government since Avenatti's arrest in March.

"The documents corroborated what Coach Franklin had told Mr. Avenatti about the involvement of Nike executives -- several of whom are the subject of the subpoenas -- in a scheme to funnel money to high school players, their families and/or handlers," Avenatti's attorneys wrote in a recent motion. "To be sure, the documents showed that the conduct extended far beyond Coach Franklin and the California Supreme."

Nike and federal prosecutors are attempting to quash subpoenas that Avenatti's attorneys sent to five Nike employees: John Slusher, Lynn Merritt, Harrison, DeBose and James.

The Carolina Panthers have reached agreement to make Baylor's Matt Rhule their new coach, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Rhule had been rumored to be in the mix for Carolina and the New York Giants, but the 44-year-old said in December that he planned on returning to Baylor.

The Panthers are hoping that Rhule can do for them what he did for Baylor, taking a struggling program and turning it into a national power. The Bears were 1-11 in Rhule's first season in 2017 but went 11-3 this past season.

Rhule, who coached the Giants' offensive line in 2012, replaces Ron Rivera, who was fired this past season after a nine-year run.

The Panthers finished 5-11 last season and haven't made the playoffs since 2017.

Yahoo Sports was first to report Rhule's hiring.

Saracens full-back Max Malins has had surgery to repair a broken foot, ruling him out for three months.

The 23-year-old former England Under-20 international suffered the injury in Sarries' 14-7 defeat at Premiership leaders Exeter on 29 December.

He will now begin a rehabilitation programme following Monday's successful operation but is expected to be out of action until April.

Saracens are bottom of the Premiership table on -7 points.

The reigning champions were docked 35 points and fined £5.36m in November for breaching salary cap regulations.